RALEIGH | Offensive attackers, defenders. As expected, it is this type of player who left first in this waltz of transactions which will culminate on Friday at 3 p.m. Difficult, in such circumstances, to establish the value of a player like Joel Armia, an attacker of a completely different ilk.
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The Rangers gave us a helping hand in this regard by acquiring Alex Wennberg, a 29-year-old left-handed center whose mandate is a little closer to that of our favorite Finn.
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If the Kraken managed to wrest a second-round pick (2024) and a conditional fourth-round pick (2025) from the Rangers, while retaining 50% of Wennberg’s salary, what could the Habs get for Armia?
What works against Kent Hughes is that the 30-year-old winger will have one season left on his contract at $3.4 million after this one. Which means that retaining a portion of the salary as the Kraken did would involve blocking one of the three slots available for a full season.
Some comparisons
Now, we understand that we are comparing a center and a winger here. We also understand that Wennberg has a clear advantage in several advanced statistics.
Blocked shots, winning one-on-one battles and blocked passes are categories in which Wennberg excels.
However, for certain aspects of defensive play, Armia is not very far away. And in categories involving what starts with puck recovery, he ranks favorably.
This is the case for speared pucks, scoring opportunities, scoring opportunities following a zone entry, shots on target and goals per match.
What weighs down Armia’s candidacy is his turnaround rate. At 20.1%, it ranks 408e rank among NHL forwards. Wennberg occupies 46e rank with a rate of 14.1%.
A resurrection
That said, we would have a better idea of Armia’s value if Nic Dowd or Lars Eller changed addresses. Once again, we are talking about two center players. But their defensive statistics are much closer to those of the Habs winger. In fact, the latter has nothing to envy them.
Additionally, just like Armia, they have one year left on their contract. Which helps in the comparison game.
In 2018, Marc Bergevin acquired Armia from the Jets for peanuts. In fact, the Finn had served as a compensation gift to thank the Canadian for relieving the Manitoba team of the heavy contract of goalkeeper Steve Mason. Contract that the Habs immediately bought back.
Therefore, the Canadian will definitely get more than what it cost him to bring the 6-foot-3 guy to Montreal – which is to say nothing. His resurrection in recent weeks could convince a team looking for depth to make his acquisition.
A third-round pick? A fourth-round pick? At that price, it would perhaps be better for Hughes to keep him in Montreal and hope that Armia will bring to the next season the combativeness and consistency that he has been demonstrating for some time.